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samjackson54[54 posts]5 years ago

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blimey. I have to say, i'm definately not a fan of cyclists who choose to ignore the highway code, be it red lights or mini roundabout rules. Give way to the right!!!!! The amount of cyclists who just 'go' really annoys me!

Shocking, but I do think we need a bit of context here; this was a car "approaching a junction at high speed, ignoring the red light..." i.e way faster than probably even most pros can go and completely "ignoring the red light"... that is, asleep at the wheel or otherwise distracted to a level not possible to do and stay riding a bicycle either.

we also need to put into context jumping the lights; in London I only see cyclists doing a left turn filter light jump (which is under review to be made legal anyway), or crossing a junction when there is visibly no traffic, which usually just seconds before the lights change anyway. These extra few seconds give the cyclist the short head start time the advanced cycle box was designed to deliver for extra safety, but every car driver and especially cab drivers seem to completely ignore or be unaware of its existence:

Finally, even if you did manage to sprint up the the manx missile speed that this car in the video was travelling and assuming you could continue that way while falling asleep and stay on the bike to jump the light without any attempt to stop whatsoever... the only likely person to suffer damages is the cyclist himself. However; if that car in the video had been a second later it would have t-boned the oncoming car and driven the driver through the other side of the car breaking just about every bone in his main musculoskeletal frame... and the care would have still gone on to randomly take out pedestrians and other traffic that in this case were luckly absent...

I have said it before in this forum and will say it again; being in charge of a tonne + vehicle made of very hard, bone-crushing material with sharp edges brings much greater responsibility and restriction than a propelling a largely soft and squishy person atop a rounded object that weighs less than many shopping bags people often carry. A car also allows you to do this with little regard for your surroundings and get away with it, which is not possible on a bike; like falling asleep and ploughing into traffic, for example:

Shocking, but I do think we need a bit of context here; this was a car "approaching a junction at high speed, ignoring the red light..." i.e way faster than probably even most pros can go and completely "ignoring the red light"... that is, asleep at the wheel or otherwise distracted to a level not possible to do and stay riding a bicycle either.

we also need to put into context jumping the lights; in London I only see cyclists doing a left turn filter light jump (which is under review to be made legal anyway), or crossing a junction when there is visibly no traffic, which usually just seconds before the lights change anyway.

I see cyclists in London jumping red lights often, and not just in those scenarios you suggest. Last week one guy I saw jumped a red light at a major junction and had a very close call with a van. Granted, the van was going at speed and was possibly going faster than the limit, but its driver had a green light. Had the cyclist gone under the van, blame would have been shared, but the injuries would have been one way.

context deffo needed on RLJing. If you're out early on a Sunday morning, come to junction which is totally deserted, lights on red, do you stop and wait for green or safely go on your way? I would safely go on my way, and there are other instances where I take a calculated decision to go on red, usually when I know the lights well, and I'm buying myself a split-second before the cars behind move off.